Mom, I'm Dating a Satanist
by real time twins
Summary: AU Slash Occult. Sena grew up surrounded by Witches and finally, finally after seventeen years, is going to be initiated into their coven. Except that's not what the Universe wants. He didn't think he could go further down the rabbit hole.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Mom, I'm Dating a Satanist (So I Won't Be Home for Dinner Tonight)

**Author:** E. Reeze

**Pairing:** RikuSena, Future Threesome pairing

**Summary: **Sena didn't realize that you could go any further down the rabbit hole…but he supposed meeting with a few Satanists might do that to him. AU Slash Occult

_Hello all! This is Erin speaking, half of our little duo. Now, normally I'm going to try to keep A/Ns to a minimum and have them be short and sweet, but this story needs a few words before we get started. Mainly warnings, and not the usual 'this is gayness, stay away if you don't like gay boys' warning._

_Yes, this will include slash. Mainly, HiruSenaAgon. Later on though, so don't fret about that. The warning that is most important, however, concerns occult practices, magic, and spirituality. Because all of those things will be involved. There will be paganism, Satanism, and magic. Lots of magic. So this is my warning to people who don't like the occult/ 'super'natural: Stay Away. This is also my disclaimer: I am not promising to accurately represent Satanism as I am not a Satanist nor do I plan to interact with the Church of Satan anytime soon. Not because I fear them, but because I am lazy. Also, my brother and myself are Pagan Witches, but we aren't portraying Wiccan practices or Witchcraft practices totally accurately (um, this is fiction, after all) and so please don't think every Wiccan acts this way! I made this story to highlight how stupid I think it is when Wiccans and other Pagans are like "*ANGRYFACE*OMFGNOWE'RENOTSATANISTS THEMBEBADPPLZ! D" while begging for religious freedom in the same breath._

_More warnings: AU. As said, gayness. Lots of it. That should cover it. Oh, this story is based in the U.S by the way! Just so you know~_

_Another disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21 or any of the characters I'm torturing. Nor does my brother. We make no money off of this.

* * *

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**Chapter One: Ostara**

_Here, the trees are blooming and you can get the sense that the world is actually warm again. We aren't walking home in the dark anymore. Instead, we're smelling wildflowers and climbing on rainbow colored rocks._

Riku had a guitar pic clamped between his teeth; part of the bright purple plastic reflecting the sun as he distractedly shuffled it from one end of his mouth to the other. Sena wanted to take his eyes off Riku's mouth, he really did, but the way the small pic danced between his lips was too enticing. He was going to catch Sena if he kept staring, and then he'd give him that secret, almost perverted smile he'd taken to giving Sena lately. Which, honestly, he didn't mind. Except Mamori was right next to them, and Sena doubted she would appreciate the semi-lecherous glances Riku would toss him.

"Just think, you guys," both boys glanced towards Mamori as she started speaking, her eyes turned towards the clouds above them, moving leisurely across the pale blue sky, "today, you'll be initiated."

Riku almost choked on his pic, his hand was even on his way towards his throat in the typical 'I-am-choking-help-me!' posture, and Sena was ready to freak out, his hands already in the awkward fumbling motion of not-really-helping, but he luckily opted to spit it onto the ground rather than inhale it into his windpipe. Mamori didn't realize, of course, what was happening, and simply turned to them.

"Are you guys okay?" Riku glared half-heartedly at her question. Sena just fiddled with the hem of his shirt, no longer able to look at either of them. Riku nodded an affirmative before picking up his pic, grimacing, and slipping it into his pocket. Unfortunately, Mamori's attention was only placed upon the smaller boy as Riku fell silent once again.

"And you, Sena? Excited?" His eyes danced to my adoptive sister and Sena managed a weak smile.

"Y-yeah."

He supposed he was, considering everything that he had gone through. His thoughts were whirling about as all three of the teens fell into companionable silence again. Sena sighed. If he didn't calm down, if he didn't focus—and this time not on Riku's sometimes unintentionally sexual habits—he wouldn't be ready for later today. Sena distractedly thanked the gods that he had been trained specifically to calm his mind, shut off the harassing thoughts, or he would've been far past a mental breakdown. He just had to focus on one specific thing…

Trees.

There were trees. Trees were everywhere, actually. Mostly oaks and big pine trees, planted decades ago. There was a tree behind him, an oak that they had decided to settle under, and it was keeping the strengthening sun from blinding them. His eyes fell closed, and he started counting my breaths.

_Twelve…eleven…ten…nine…deeper, let me go deeper…eight…seven…six…five…there's Earth beneath me, Sky above…four…three…two…one…_

He could feel the tree better. If he just pressed his mind a bit more against it, Sena would slip inside and be able to feel everything. The birds building nests in its branches, its roots reaching down far, farther into the ground, the water table. If he could just let his mind, himself slip into the tree then he would be able to feel everything.

It was the strangest feeling, projecting his mind. Mamori hated it when Sena did it, mainly because she had never been able to do it too well and was always worried that he'd mess up and have his mind get stuck. Riku had his mind get muddled, when they started projecting years ago. He was dazed for the rest of the day, still partially inside the crystals the boys had been using. But that's the worst that could happen, with what they did. Dizziness, exhaustion, and irritability…they'd been hearing the same warnings since they were kids, about the subtle dangers of their craft. At first, Sena had been scared to do much of anything.

But now, now he could project myself into a tree and just _feel_ everything it was and become one with it. When his mind was almost in the tree, he could feel the strange sensation of vibrating and shaking that always came along with projecting. He suspected no one felt the same as he did, which honestly bothered Sena at first because it was a frightening experience. The shaking, the almost imperceptible feeling of being torn in two pieces (however gently) had nearly kept him from projecting on a regular basis (which would have made Mamori happier, no doubt). Instead, he sunk further into the tree, and the shaking passed to be replaced with the sturdiest feeling he had experienced that day.

He felt to the bottom of my roots and just stayed there, soaking up the power of the Earth and bathing in the Sun's light, until he knew that he was as balanced as he would ever get. He slowly pulled myself up, pressed back into my body and thanked the tree. Most magical, public people talk at long length at how the trees, the rocks will speak with them. They'd never spoken with Sena, but he knew, deep past his stomach and in his core, what they were saying in their silent words. So he knew when the tree returned his thanks as he returned to himself. Counted up and opened his eyes.

And was met with starlight.

He almost screamed. He did the first time he ever opened his eyes to starlight, because he hadn't been expecting it and suddenly being bathed in strange, ethereal purple and white light was unsettling no matter how much he had been trained.

"You should have expected it this time, Sena," came a cheery voice behind him. He jumped. The great oak that he had projected into was gone, as well as the other trees. Everything that was physical had been swept away, replaced by shimmering dots of light in the sky and an eternally setting sun splashing the sky in pink and deep blue. Sena didn't have to look up to see the full moon hanging like a giant in the sky, and he knew, from past experience, that beneath his feet were constantly blooming wildflowers. He drew a quick breath before turning to his spirit guide.

"Suzuna! You scared me," he said, glancing down at the flush of white and blue flowers under his feet. She just laughed, brushing past him and leaning down to smell one of the bigger plants that was blooming. He followed her, his hands finding their typical position of tugging on his shirt.

"You get scared too easily," she commented. Sena grimaced; it was the truth. He may have gotten over his rather insignificant fears concerning magic, but he was still as jumpy and on edge as he had always been. But he figured that was the way he was supposed to be, since Riku nor Mamori nor Suzuna had tried to fix him. Well, Riku wanted Sena to be more confident, and he still tried to get the boy out of his shell on rare occasions, but for the most part he had taken to letting the small brunette be.

"Stop thinking about him!" Suzuna snapped, her eyes narrowed as she faced Sena directly. He blushed, embarrassed at being caught. But Suzuna was already moving on to other topics, directing him away from thoughts of the white haired boy.

"You're supposed to be initiated today," the spirit guide said, flexing her bat wings and dancing over to her charge. When Sena had first met her, during a vision quest that Mamori had (obviously) protested, she hadn't had wings or a tail or anything strange really. She looked like a normal teenage girl, with short hair and a pixie figure. Of course, Sena had to have the luck of getting a spirit guide that transformed. Which wasn't all that lucky, because the first time she got her wings they had ripped out of her back and Sena would get nauseous for a week after every time he saw her. They had shrunk from their original humongous size, now only little additions to her back. Her sharp tail tapped his arm, and he smiled hesitantly at her.

"Yep. Seventeen years, and I'll finally be initiated."

Suzuna leaned back, her ethereal body floating above the ground, and shook her head. Sena felt his blood get a little colder.

"I don't think so."

"Huh?" he breathed; not exactly sure he comprehended her words. Suzuna only shook her head again, her thin eyebrows drawing together and her big cat eyes narrowing.

"I don't think you're going to be initiated."

Sena wasn't clairvoyant or a seer or anything like that, and his skills with Tarot were iffy at best. Monta was their fortuneteller, and since he started reading for the entire coven he hadn't been wrong once. And his spirit guide, some rambunctious canine type creature named Sakuraba, consistently provided information about the future. So Sena hadn't been expecting Suzuna to come up with such an abrupt prophecy, much less with the serious nature attached to it. His spirit guide was more inclined towards jokes, often played on her charge. Maybe this was just a joke, an especially cruel one. He shifted, his eyes stuck to the ground.

"What do you…what do you mean?"

Suzuna huffed. "I just don't think it's going to happen. I have a bad feeling about this, Sena." She turned away from him, and her wings were growing, expanding to the size where she could easily fly with them. Sena tried to slink back into the scenery, knowing exactly what was coming. Suzuna had flown with him before, and he _hated_ it. She went too fast, she had no regard for his spiritual body, and the last time he had almost been impaled on a tree. "I'll show you," she promised, and he shuddered.

"I, uh, hah, nah, that's okay. You can just—"

"No, no. Let me show you," she stressed. And he was screaming, because Suzuna has grabbed him under his armpits and was carting him through the sky and he couldn't not scream. Being toted around like a handbag by a slightly demonic spirit guide hadn't been on his list of to-do's that day, except apparently it was on Suzuna's because she wasn't putting the brunette down even when he started using the highest pitched shriek he could.

"And, here we are," she said nonchalantly, dropping him from what he thought was a fifty foot drop. He landed fine, of course but was shaking and gasping for air anyway. "Look," she nudged him, and Sena directed his gaze towards the new scenery.

He had been exploring his sacred space for years, often times traveling with Suzuna across the mountains and hills and deep caves that existed in his own pocket of the spiritual realm. But he still didn't know everything about it, and sometimes entirely new areas would replace past explored and memorized territory. It seemed a hopeless quest, trying to uncover every bit of the almost-imaginary world that existed, and the fact was only pronounced as he glanced around.

"A pond?" he said, slowly walking towards the shore. Suzuna nodded, pressing him closer.

"Keep looking…" she urged, her hands still pushing on his back. He leaned as far as he could, eyebrows furrowed as he gazed at the water. Suzuna crept up behind him, her hands pushing slightly on his back and he didn't put it past her to shove him in just for a laugh. He was almost ready to give up when the surface shimmered and realization dawned on his face.

"Just keep looking," Suzuna whispered, leaning next to him. Her eyes were narrowed, the slit-like pupils growing as she watched the water churn and bubble as images started appearing. Suzuna wasn't keen on experiencing the vision again, and she knew Sena would freak out by the end of it, but she couldn't just hide it from him. She was his spirit guide, and she knew she had gotten the message for a reason. It didn't matter if it was just the interconnected web of minds of all of humanity that contained the knowledge or if it was the Universe itself; she had been charged to deliver the information to Sena, and so she would.

The water spluttered and flew into the air, congealing into a circular sort-of mirror that displayed, for a moment, both Sena and Suzuna as they were. A shadow crossed the mirror, leaving only Sena's reflection remaining. His wide-eyed, shaking reflection.

"What…what is this…?" he stammered, pushing back into his guide. She only hushed him.

He was there, in the water-mirror, and yet it was different. A blindfold was covering his mirror-self's eyes, and his hands were tied behind his back. The image would have frightened him, and the bondage didn't sit too comfortably in his stomach, but he knew what he was seeing. It was an initiation ritual. Every pagan child knew what one looked like, how it was performed.

But just because he knew what happened didn't mean he could suppress the gasp that tore from his lips when he saw a thin knife being pressed against the blindfold. It was a test, to see if the possible initiate could truly give themselves up to not only the gods but the coven. A test of courage, trust, bravery…and one Sena had been dreading since he had heard of it.

Before his mirror-self could even move forward or utter a single word, a giant bat landed on the knife. And that did make Sena scream, because the bat was at least as big as he was and positively frightening. The shaking worsened and he nearly closed his eyes, except Suzuna hissed for him to keep watching.

Then the bat wasn't a bat, but a man. Or at least, Sena thought it was a man. The features, the face, everything was cloaked in an odd transparent veil that Sena couldn't pierce no matter how many runes he started signing to counteract deceit and lies. Suzuna grabbed his hands, which had been slowing drawing the runes in the air and shook her head. "It won't work. I already tried it…"

The man held his hand up, a smirk adorning his face, and seemingly challenged the holder. Blood splattered across the mirror, obscuring the image except for the man's impaled hand. And the smirk. The man's smirk simply wouldn't go away, even though his hand was bleeding and the knife had cut through entirely.

This new, concealed man held up his hand and all the blood—all that had splattered onto his clothes and onto the ground—congealed into a ball above the knife that now slid from it's fleshy hold and that stupid smirk—Sena hated it, hated the way it sent chills down his spine and make him want to vomit—just got wider. Until thin, nimble fingers snapped and mirror-Sena was covered in the blood, soaked in it and real-Sena screamed, louder than before and louder than when Suzuna had been flying with him because suddenly _he_ was coated in that nasty, filthy blood and—

"Sena!"

Bright sunlight hit his face, streaming through the thick leaves of the oak tree. He blinked, still shaking, before concerned hazel eyes came into view.

"R-r-r-Riku," he wheezed. His hands came up and wrapped around the other boy, and he distantly took note that he had fallen down somewhere along the line onto his back. Mamori was yelling, but that was far, far away and all Sena cared about was that the disgusting feeling of thick blood was gone. All that mattered was that he didn't have to see that sickening, gleeful and sadistic smirk anymore.

"Whoa, Sena…Sena," Riku shushed, gathering the trembling boy in his arms. The white-haired teen wasn't sure exactly what to do. He'd had a shaking, shivering Sena under him before, plenty of times, but not like this. At least, not for a while. He hadn't been paying attention to what Sena had done after the boy had grounded himself; Riku had been able to feel Sena's energy as it flooded and mingled with the Earth. It had to have been something awful—the last time he had screamed when he was out of it had been when his spirit guide got her wings.

"Riku…Riku…" Sena sighed, his breath finally slowing and his hands falling to rest on Riku's neck. He nearly buried his head in the other boy's neck and kissed it, just to ground himself further, but he knew that would cause Mamori to freak out even more. Instead, he curled tighter to Riku.

"What happened?" Riku murmured, pressing his lips close to Sena's ear. The boy shuddered, this time in pleasure, and tightened his grip.

"Vision…I had a vision," he gasped. Footsteps pounded around him, Mamori's shrill voice calling for the rest of the coven to gather near, and suddenly he was pulled from Riku and standing on his wobbly feet.

"Ground yourself, Sena," his mother said, her hands coming to clamp on his shoulders. He nodded weakly and searched for the Earth's power beneath his feet, sought it out like a baby for its mother's milk, and when he felt the gentle pulse he plunged in and drank it all the way up to his crown. His body stopped shaking, all the tremors draining away, and he was able to open his eyes properly and look around at his coven.

"What happened?" Mihae pressed, guiding her son over to a bench. A few people made to join them, Mamori at the front, but Mihae shooed them off quickly. Even her husband didn't join the two, opting instead to chat with one of his covenmates. Sena tried to smile, but his face felt to stretched and awkward to accomplish it.

"I…I had a vision," he repeated.

"Of what?"

"…My initiation." He could barely force the words out. He had been working towards this day since he had been born practically—he was homeschooled, taught about herbs and magic and the stars and planets and how they affected people, had grown up with the trees and learned how to grow his own garden at a young age. He had been studying endlessly to be able to be initiated into his mother's coven. If he told her what he had seen, if he told her about the bat and the blood, she might call of his initiation. And then what? All those years of studying…would be worthless. Or, he'd have to wait another year and Riku would be initiated but he'd still be a little kid, waiting to become an adult.

Her hands just clamped down harder.

"What happened?"

Of course, when she asked like that he couldn't well lie. His mother was able to draw up a powerful gust with a wave of her hand, making smoke dance in intricate patterns, and he had considered lying to her? No, she would see right through that. A powerful Witch like Mihae would pierce through the lie and grab the truth right under him.

So he told her. Her eyes got bigger, wider, as he continued to tell the tale. He had to ground himself again before he could finish, to keep the fear from devouring him whole.

"Sena…" his mother said, low and under her breath. His hands instantly flew to his shirt, pulling and tugging and teasing at it. He didn't want to face this—it wasn't fair. He didn't even understand the vision. He didn't understand any of it.

"Y-yes?" he stammered.

"It was a bat? You're sure?" she pestered, and suddenly it clicked in his mind. A bat. The symbol for rebirth, renewal. And he had to let out a little laugh at that, because it was so fitting for an initiation ceremony that he should have a vision—a frightening vision—that included a bat. Maybe it was just stress working its way out of his system. That had to be it. The blood…well, the blood could be any number of things and the man could…could just be a possible challenge that would further him along to regeneration.

He nodded his head, firmly, and his mother let out a slow sigh and smiled.

"Then it's fine, I think."

"I…I can still be initiated then?"

Mihae's smile got a bit conspiratorier, and Sena was reminded yet again that his mother had a more mischievous side than Mamori ever would. It showed through now, bright and biting, and her hands slid off his shoulders and clasped his hands, stilling them.

"As long as Mamori doesn't hear about it. She'd put up a fuss."

Sena nodded, and then his mother was guiding him back to the group and he could practically feel the gears in her head working as she came up with a plausible excuse to Mamori. Quickly, quietly, before she left to attend to the overprotective sister-figure, she leaned to him.

"I'm proud of you. I'm proud you've come this far."

And then Mihae was off, sidling next to her husband and chatting softly with Mamori. The others were gathered around him, Riku catching his eye and giving him that stern, solemn look he'd given Sena even before they had started—well, Sena wasn't sure exactly what they had started, but he'd directed that look at Sena since they were children. Sena nodded to him and smiled weakly before brushing off the other's worries, a shaky smile plastered to his face.

The vision was a good sign. It had to be.

†

Bat:

_ Rebirth. Ritualistic death. Initiation. Growth._

†

He hadn't been present when Riku had been initiated, of course. Until _he_ was initiated, he couldn't be privy to that sort of knowledge. Even though he knew what it would be like, look like, even smell like. They always used a mixture of myrrh and sandalwood for their rituals, and the initiation included just a bit of sage. Sena could practically smell it, separated from the group as he was.

Mamori refused to look at him now, even though her word would grant him access into the circle once his turn came. She was clearly biting her cheek, her eyes farther away then they ever got when she attempted to float outside her body, and Sena was almost worried she wouldn't hear the call for them to join up with the rest of the coven.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sena?" she asked, suddenly turning on him and locking him with a stare that, he realized, was trying to imitate his mother's. And while he loved Mamori dearly, since she had always taken care of him, especially when he'd been bullied and Riku had to leave for a few years when they were younger to learn in Europe, she would never be the Witch that Mihae was. Mihae, who seemed subdued and like a gentle housewife to the outer world, but who had many times had the Goddess invoked into her and shown not only what a great Priestess but a decent, fair Witch she was. Sena wondered, briefly, if he would turn out to be more like his mother or his father. His father, who was still powerful in his own right but dealt more with the subtle plays of energy and light and shadow then the concrete elements Mihae worked so intimately with.

Mamori held herself back, was too afraid to delve deeper into the rabbit hole that was their lives. She had seen before her eyes as magic worked sharply and swiftly against the bonds of mainstream reality. Yet she was still afraid, deep in herself, what that magic could bring forth.

"I'm fine," he comforted her. She sighed.

"The vision you had, though…" her voice trailed off, and Sena just smiled at her more.

"The bat is a common symbol for rebirth. And that's a good thing to see right now, isn't it?"

Mamori nodded tersely, and then her head snapped up at the beckoning call. Instantaneously, her face melted into a mask and her hand clasped Sena's as she led him to the circle.

The very real, very physical circle.

Sena gasped. He had seen circles before now, of course. Created them himself, with salt and water and oil and even flower petals. Had seen glimpses of flickers of the reality of the circle, but more often just felt the pressure and weight of the energy around him. The heat especially was familiar to him. Even in the dead of night in winter, when he should have been freezing, the circle would be so full of energy it kept him almost sweating.

This circle—it glowed. He saw Riku, barely, through the haze of energy that was swirling around the coven. His breath wasn't coming in properly, though he was grounding himself and trying desperately to feel the power of the sun above him. But he couldn't get over the physical reality, the fact that he would become apart of that circle, that he could maybe one day also summon a circle so powerful.

_Hardly,_ a bitter, self-hating part of his mind snapped, but he'd had practice stuffing such doubts down. They had no place in the magic circle.

Mamori tugged him closer to the circle, to the Eastern side where Monta stood waiting. Sena gulped. Natural that Monta was there, being one of the coven's already initiated members and a close friend to Sena. Riku had protested Monta being initiated before them—didn't they have equal standing in the coven?—but Mihae had explained that as a seer, and a powerful one at that, Monta needed to be initiated earlier. He'd already studied extensively, since he knew what he was destined to do from a young age, and was more prepared than either of his two friends.

A door had been cut, sometime when they were walking over, and Monta stepped out of the circle with a blindfold and cord. Sena shuddered. They were going to bind him and blindfold him, and while he knew it was a part of the experience, he didn't have to like it. Still, he placed his arms behind his back and closed his eyes, Monta left to do the blindfold while Mamori tied the knot. Monta had always been a little weak when it came to cord magic.

"Ready?" Monta asked quietly, and Sena smiled genuinely.

"Yes," he murmured, and the smile dropped and he was led towards the circle.

Towards his future. He knew that the initiation would be stressful, even knowing what would happen. He could feel the tension and excitement building in his stomach, making him tense, and then there was fear too, from the vision. Which didn't make sense; just because there had been blood didn't mean it was bad. And the bat had clearly represented initiation.

Right?

He felt the energy of the circle about to envelope him, take him and warm him down to his core. A flutter grew in his heart—this was what he had been working towards for years. Even when he had been teased, before Riku taught him to use his magic to direct the bullies' attention elsewhere, he hadn't dared dream of giving this up. To the outside world, he'd still be that weird hippie kid. To his coven…his mother's coven, he'd finally be included. Acknowledged. Accepted.

And then, the energy broke and dispersed and the coven cried out as the energy flooded away like incense smoke. The warmth of the circle, tight and pulsating, was replaced with the heat of the growing sun. Sena knew something had gone wrong, Mamori's hands were crushing his arm now, and he could feel Riku slide next to him and pull him from Mamori. There was a tense, dangerous aura flickering around Riku and Sena knew that whatever had happened—he hadn't seen—had been very, very bad.

Of course, he could have figured that out from the sharp gust of wind that whipped past them. Mihae had released it, calling upon some forgotten magic to intimidate whoever had destroyed their circle.

Because it had to be a human. They had invoked the deities, the Guardians, so it was unlikely that a spirit had crashed in on the ceremony. A spirit wouldn't interfere unless Sena had some great, Universal significance that no one had realized, but humans certainly would.

"Riku…" he started, but the blindfold was off his eyes and the cord fallen from his arms before he could properly ask. Riku was in front of him, guarding him, but Sena still shifted so he could get a look at the people that had bothered them. Not many people bothered Witches anymore—fundamental Christians, an occasional cop with a grudge, but not the average person. Most people didn't even come to the park that they worked their magic anymore, for the simple fact that they knew Witches were likely to be there and wanted to afford them their privacy. Magic took incredible amounts of focus, after all.

Sena couldn't suppress the gasp that whisked past his lips.

He didn't know the men, had never remember seeing them in waking life, but they had smirks on their faces that instantly threw him back into the vision Suzuna had shown him. Though the men looked completely different from each other, he couldn't deny that their…expression were equally full of a taunting malice that sent his hammering heart straight into his feet. He couldn't feel the Earth under him though, and that was perhaps the worst thing.

"Excuse me," Mihae said sharply, stalking over to the men with a ferocious look on her face. She seemed about to devour a demon. Which was what one of the boys looked like, Sena noted. Dyed blonde hair and a fanged smirk, with pointed ears…he'd never seen anyone so…frankly, evil looking. And the other boy had dreadlocks, long ones, and seemed entirely too pleased with himself. Too confident. The confidence oozed out of the pair like pus from a popped pimple, and while it was entirely disgusting, Sena found himself for a moment jealous that they could put on such airs.

"What are you doing here?" Mihae demanded.

The blond demon turned his green eyes to the Priestess and the smirk only grew, larger, meaner.

"Having some fun," the demon commented off hand. Everyone around Sena was tensed, he was tensed, but the pair in front of them seemed perfectly content to stand around a bunch of pissed-off Witches.

_'That's not normal,'_ Sena thought. _'Normal people are at least a little bit afraid of us.'_

So that meant the men had to be…not abnormal, but not the everyday kids that ran down the street and bumped into Sena as he tried to rush home from spending an unnecessary amount of time at Riku's house. They were not the loud fake-Christians who promised burning at the stake, because those people always got wide-eyed and backed off when they saw the real, physical power of a Witch. So that meant that Sena had to consider, for a very uncomfortable minute, that these men might, in fact, be Witches like them.

Sena found himself unintentionally pressing into Riku as he slid behind him a bit further.

Those green eyes flicked to him, but only for a moment. Still, Sena couldn't breathe, not now. His voice, his tongue, his lungs were all tangled and jumbled up.

"Oh? Fun? Maybe you don't know, but we were conducting a ritual and—"

"We know, fucking Priestess." Now, that had a few of the coven yelling in angry and scandalized tones, but the demon just pressed on. "Which is why we interrupted."

"You have no right," Mihae started, eyes going dangerously narrow and challenging the obviously younger boy. He just waved his hand.

"Whatever."

Sena was about to faint from lack of oxygen, but he couldn't take his eyes off of them. So confident, so sure that they could get away with their transgression, so blatant in their 'I-don't-give-a-fuck' attitudes, and Sena felt something catch inside of him that shouldn't have caught and it twisted until his vision blurred. Until all he really saw was the pair, all he saw was—

Oh.

It was an enchantment.

He slipped his hand into Riku's and squeezed, because just not seeing Riku didn't mean he didn't know where the other was. They always knew where the other one was, ever since Riku had come back from Europe. Riku glanced at him, cautious, and then squeezed back. And Sena could see the world again, not just the two demons who had tried spelling him.

The spell had been so strong, so enticing…

_Black magic_, his mind provided him.

"Who are you?" This time it was Shuma who spoke, his voice just as commanding as Mihae's. Of course. He was leader of the coven after all, Mihae's partner and Priest. The dreadlocked boy only turned his sunglassed-gaze to the older man, his expression not altering in the slightest.

"What's it to you, Wiccan trash?"

Mihae hissed, as did a few other members of the coven, but it was Mamori who spoke, seeming to materialize in front of both Riku and Sena and making both boys groan under their breath. Sister Mamori to save the day. Like usual.

"Why don't you leave us alone, you stupid Satanists?" she snapped.

And Sena clamped down on Riku's hand hard enough to make the boy wince, because it was bad to throw out accusations like that in their community. They had worked so hard to separate themselves from the Satanists, the baby-sacrificers, the animal-killers, and did Mamori really need to start a Witch War? They'd been started over less serious claims, and if those two men did belong to a nearby coven then the whole town might be at the mercy of angry Witches. Mihae might not have prescribed to dark magic, but she wasn't above using the grey stuff when it came to defending her family.

It made sense though—the spell the two had just used, it had to be dark. It was full of bad energy, maliciousness. They had tried to mess with his mind, at a very deep level, which no ethical Witch would do.

"Ah, she caught us, Agon," the blonde commented, turning to his companion and looking almost mock sorrowful. "You're right; we're big, bad Satanists!"

"Why don't you leave? You've had your fun," Shuma prompted, his eyes cold. The two men sneered, just as chillingly, but moved to leave. Sena sighed. Their presence made him just as edgy as when he was younger.

Then those green eyes locked on his again, and then the other man's eyes, and Sena didn't even try to figure out how he could be staring into two pairs of eyes at once because this whole situation had been enough of a mind fuck that he didn't need to break his brain any more than he already had.

The blonde smirked, but the one he had called Agon just rolled his eyes and grabbed the thin wrist, dragging the demon off with him into the trees.

And that's when Sena just couldn't take in anymore, and fainted.

* * *

_Please review with questions/concerns/anything really! We're happy to answer them~_


	2. Chapter 2

_Authors' Note:_

_..._

_Holy Jesus Christ Mary Joseph Cartman Kyle Kenny Stan and everything else that is holy...don't kill us. Okay, you can kill us. You can even yell at us. Especially cause we weren't able to fit in the sex scene...and because we both so totally suck. Balls. Seriously. We totally deserve to have rotten food thrown at us. Maybe even knives. You can shoot at us too, if that would appease you._

_But we're hoping an update will do better than any rotten food tossing or murder attempts! Eh? Eh~?_

_We thought we were going to kill this chapter, just so you know. Because it made Erin want to freakin'...he doesn't even know. It just made him so angry that the Muse consistently gave him little teasers and then just flew off! Agh! We're so sorry!_

_Please, please, PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE OMFG forgive us!

* * *

  
_

**Chapter Two: Pitfalls**

_Cast the circle, build the cone._

The house was quiet, but he could tell by sending small tendrils of feeling energy out that the living room was full. The entire coven was there, situated in the expansive room. Sena sighed. His mother would be up soon, sensing his consciousness. Memory bit at his mind playfully, like Pit used to when she was still a kitten, and Sena found himself trying to grab it unproductively. A groan escaped him at the headache crashing against him, it's ferocious pain aided by his futile attempts to just _remember_.

Smirks. He remembered smirks. Malicious, teasing, confident and superior. A look he'd surely never pull off. And even on his bad days Riku never wore such an expression.

A thick feeling, like moldy soup, swam in his stomach. He groaned again, louder, and clamped his eyes shut. His gut lurched.

"Sena?" Mihae whispered, pushing the door open and letting a thin sliver of light bounce into the room. Gradually, Sena reopened his eyes and glanced about, letting the physical affects of his surroundings sink in. The smell of chamomile and the angry red dot of burning incense, a candle flickering on altar. But the shades were drawn closed, their thickness completely blocking out the sun. Or maybe he'd been asleep long enough that the sun had sunk and the cool night had taken over. "You're awake."

He shifted, to confirm her statement, and she pushed the door closed behind her with a stinging click. Her hands graced across his face, his cheeks, his throat, and they were cool enough to make him shiver. Finger clamped down on his shoulder, and then he was looking up into her face because it was the only logical thing to do.

"Thank the Goddess," she gasped. Sena felt his head spin and drop. Something awful had happened, and it had to involve that smirk that was splattered across his mind. He gulped. The hand clamped tighter. "Do you remember what happened?"

Sena closed his eyes again, tight, and he was just about to delve into the scattered fluffs of memory and the awful feeling of rotten food when his mother sat down on the bed and hissed. Hissed some ancient spell that snapped him back into his body and, as if thin leashes of egg yolk wrapped around him, kept him stuck.

"Mom?" he asked, letting his eyes fall on her again. Her face, usually illuminated with both a special glamour and real beauty, was twisted until it showed her age with creases and lines and exhausted eyes. "Why…what did you…"

"It's not safe for you to use magic right now."

The sadness in the tone, seeping out, made ripples of frozen fear and shame bubble up through Sena's tailbone. Had he done something wrong? Perhaps his Shadow Self had awoken and revealed some fault that kept him from initiation. Because, it clicked, that's what he had been doing, hadn't he? He as going to be initiated, just like Riku. But…but…

"I'm sorry, Sena," Mihae murmured, her hands repeatedly brushing along him and, with them, sweeping away the egg coating. "But we can't take any risks right now." Her lips tightened. "I should have seen this, since your vision…"

And then it came back to him, rushing and pounding and announcing, 'Oh, yes, remember me?' and running his life all over again. The blood, spraying over his body, and those positively damnable smirks. The blond demon, his dreadlocked companion, and the latch that was caught inside him and urging him to return. Return to the forest and find those men. For what, he wasn't certain. But the tug was incessant, physical, and wholly irritating to a degree that Sena had rarely experienced. He grimaced. Hadn't he cast off their spell, purged its influence from his mind like he'd been taught? But he felt the sway in him, and there was little doubt that it was the remnants of the spell that had clouded his memory.

His mother was looking at him, searching him with her eyes and her mind. Energy, heated and comforting like a regular embrace, curled around him and licked up his arms and neck, and he couldn't well resist it because it was his _mother's_ energy. It wrapped around his own energy and read him, all the intimate details and even secrets he'd prefer she not knew, but she just delved past those uncomfortable blockages into the true fear and shock he felt, and she yanked it out of him so hard he gasped and pressed against the headboard. And then her arms were actually around him, not just her energy, and she was holding him as tightly as she could.

"Oh, Sena…Sena, Sena, Sena…" she said his name over and over, like a chant, before switching to his alternative name, the one that made him blush and adamantly deny any jeers at his masculinity. "Selena…all that fear you had bundled up…it's a terrible thing to keep inside you." Her voice washed over him, like it always did. He sighed into her and let his own arms wrap around her. Goddess, the day had been awful. He felt sick, so sick down past his feet. Of course, all the energy that had dispersed from the circle likely had something to do with the sickness, but his emotions had been dredged up by his mother's abrupt handling. If he hadn't grown up surrounded by Witches with similar abilities, much less Mihae who found the best therapy was semi-forced, it would have made him even more confused. But this method of healing was common in their coven. Force the sickness out, confront it, and it would disintegrate and make you stronger. Emotions could be buried for weeks, years even, but if you could drag it to the center of your life for a moment you would only be that tougher later on.

So Sena breathed deeply and did what he was hardly good at doing—because, honestly, running away was always easier—and let his turbulent emotions hurtle into him.

It hurt, oh Goddess, it hurt so bad. It was a good distraction to the tugging in his guts that begged him to return to the forest, though, and the shudders that cascaded down him were cleansing him.

"What…what happened…?" he breathed out. Mihae squeezed her arms, trying to cocoon him.

"We were…interrupted." Mihae struggled with the words as they filled her mouth, her mind still digesting information and theories and constantly cooking up new possibilities.

"How…I mean, who…"

She felt a smile tug at her lips. Timid, as always, and she doubted her son would ever completely get over his softness. Not that it was a bad thing, though she had imagined him to have more courage, being named after the moon. Selena—the moon Goddess. Artemis was too overbearing, at least for a boy, and Selena translated easily enough to a male variation. Maybe his shyness was the way he kept his secrets. The Moon was mystery, the keeper of hidden things, after all. And if her son were any more transparent there would be nothing left of him. Not in a household with her and Shuma in it, not when they could feel all the stirrings of emotion and thought.

Her eyes narrowed, and she drew back, examining her son. There was something…new in him. Not foreign, like a spell or charm, but not anything she had felt before. It made her…worried. But she was a mother, allowed to worry all she wanted no matter how unnecessarily.

"We're not sure exactly how they did it. They…didn't touch it." Sena fidgeted. Physical contact with a human was the usual way circles broke. "We think that they…they might have unraveled it. Somehow." Mihae grimaced. The explanation sounded hollow to her ears. Circles didn't just unravel, much less a physical manifestation of a circle. She had felt the energy when it had been uprooted, ripped out and thrown away. Such an unnatural feeling, but painful most of all.

The men, whoever they were, had forcibly destroyed their circle. It made her lips purse and her eyebrows draw together. Normal people wouldn't be able to do that without physical contact, and other Witches would have respected their space.

She frowned. Well, other Wiccans, perhaps. There were the Satanists, of course, and the men could very well be what Mamori had accused them of. But even that didn't explain their actions. Teenage wanna-be Satanists messed with churches, Christian places of worship, not Witches. There had been no motive, at least not one clearly seen.

"Unraveled it?" Sena whispered, turning the idea over in his mind. "I didn't know that was…possible." His brown eyes stared up into his mother's, and she had to restrain herself from sighing.

"Well, it's not exactly ethical magic, I would say," she bit out. Sena averted his eyes, but she reached out and squeezed his hand. "We need to talk with the coven about what you saw in your vision, though. I hate to do this but…we have to, Sena."

A lump formed in Sena's chest. He didn't want to discuss the vision, any part of it, least of all with the _entire_ coven. He'd considered telling Riku about what he had seen, but that would be his choice. They had shared information before, about their spirit guides and dreams. Working together had kept them grounded in reality and checked their egos. But he had never been forced to discuss what he saw with anyone else. Visions were private. Well, Monta shared what he saw, but he was a seer and obligated to do so.

It was with that strange lump, now clogged in his throat, that Sena followed his mother downstairs.

Riku was the first to greet him, skidding around the corner and into the hallway so fast he almost knocked Mihae down. A small apologetic smile whisked across his lips, but his eyes were focused distinctly on Sena. Mihae only shook her head and turned the blonde boy around. The two of them could have their moment another time, and she did not feel particularly keen on letting them delve further into a romance that she wasn't sure she approved. It wasn't that they were both male, but rather that she didn't think it was a wise choice for them to be getting so intimately wrapped up in each other. They needed experience with people outside the coven. Riku had gotten that when he traveled to Europe, Monta interacted with other people everyday thanks to his job at one of the metaphysical stores, and even Mamori had friends outside their group. Sena's experience, however, was lacking.

Still, Riku slipped his hand into Sena's and squeezed, trying to offer comfort.

"Sena? Sena! Are you okay? You're okay, aren't you?" Mamori cried, jumping from the couch and lunging at her young friend. Riku ducked his head but rolled his eyes. Typical Mamori. Too protective, too concerned. He wasn't sure when it would happen, but one day she would have to stop trying to shield Sena from the world. Mihae might step in, force Mamori's hand down, or Sena would break free, but it would happen. Monta was right behind Mamori, but his steps were stiffer and his hands clenched at his sides. Riku lifted his head briefly to make eye contact and nod. It was obvious that Monta was blaming himself in part for what had happened, since he was their seer. He didn't have to be right all the time, but it would be a first. Which would be a blow to the fortuneteller's confidence, one that would hurt sharper than anything else.

"Y-yeah. I'm alright, I suppose," Sena mumbled, and a collective bundle of tension fled from the group. If Sena was mumbling and withdrawn then he really was okay. Mamori squeezed him tightly, crushing his chest and making him wheeze, but Monta's hand only patted his back. The smaller boy nodded to his best friend. Though Sena was usually oblivious, he could comprehend the emotions of shame and irritation swirling in Monta. Of course, Sena's empathy no doubt helped with his understanding. "So…uh…"

"Sit down, all of you," Mihae chastised, herding the group of young adults back towards the various couches and cushions. "He doesn't need a formal greeting party." Shuffles and murmurs came from the group as each teen settled back next to their parents, or, in Monta's case, parent. Sena was squeezed tightly between his mother and father, right in the center of the group. Or, what felt like the center. Maybe he just felt self-conscious since everyone's eyes were on him.

Not critically, of course. Everyone here was either his friend or his friend's parent, so there would be no harsh glances or reproaches. He had to steel himself, still, to talk about the vision, and even then his mother had to prompt him.

"Sena? Can you repeat what you saw earlier today?"

He knew by the end of it Mamori would be yelling and the adults would be in problem-solving debate mode, and he really just wanted to go back to sleep and not face anything. But the words forced themselves out anyway.

•†•

Circle-casting (from Yoichi Hiruma's Books of Shadows)

Ingredients:

Salt

Water

Pillar candles (all white OR red, silver, blue, green)

Steps:

_Set pillar candles at quarters. Light starting south, going deosil. Invoke directional powers. Sprinkle salt, inside the square, staring south. Sprinkle water. Stand center. Visualize colored ball of energy spreading to fill the area of the circle. Bind to salt and water._

"Stop reading the fucking book," Hiruma hissed, snatching the large, worn leather journal from Agon's hands and placing it back on the bookshelf haphazardly. Agon just smirked.

The trash always got so angry when he snooped, so he couldn't really help it. And, maybe one day, he'd find something useful in that stupid 'Book of Shadows' Hiruma refused to throw away.

•†•

"Drink the tea, okay?"

"It's chamomile, it'll help with the nerves."

"Hey, we have some peppermint oil…you think that'll work?"

Sena squirmed against the purple cushions, trying to settle against them. The sun was setting in a squawk of reds and pinks and muted marine blue and the dying light was filtering through the shades, falling on his arms and causing patterns of shadow to dance across him. He gulped. But Mamori was holding the mug of steaming tea out to him—which smelled lightly of apples—and Riku was even turning to look over his shoulders as Sena hesitated. Blushing, he swiped the mug and forcefully downed a large mouthful, biting back a wince and a yelp at the sting of hot water. A small smile of appreciation flashed on Riku's face before the white haired boy continued lighting candles and incense, occasionally shuffling about different books and card decks and tossing Monta various oils to pour into the oil burner.

"That'll make you feel better, Sena. Chamomile has always worked on you," Mamori blabbered and collapsed onto a cushion next to her adopted son. Sena squirmed again, but Mamori's hand rested against his knee and Monta exclaimed that Riku had finally found the right card deck and suddenly all of his friends—his only friends—were gathered around him on the black tiled floor covered in a mishmash of cushions and pillows and blankets and—

A shower of dulled mud brown cards cascaded down his vision.

"Ready for a reading?"

Distantly, Sena thought that, no, he wasn't ready for a reading. Just for a moment he wanted to step out of the magic and insanity that was his life. Explaining his vision to the coven, then being forced to listen as the adults broke the vision down and dissected every bit of it, had been enough. He didn't want to think of anything more. He didn't want to think about the future. He just wanted to nestle into the cushions and blankets and fall asleep. Or maybe go home with Riku and sleep next to him. He sighed in his mind; he always slept the best when he was near Riku.

But he needed the reading, just as much as Monta needed to give it and the others needed to hear it.

"Okay…"

"That's the spirit! Almost, anyway," Monta trailed off, gathering the cards in his huge hands and shuffling them repeatedly. The group all settled into the cushions. If the cards were deciding to be stingy it could take a good hour or more before the reading was over. Monta never drew the cards from the top of the deck or set them in a specific order, instead choosing to shuffle until the telltale sting alerted his fingers to the right card and placing it where ever it wanted on the small, cloth-covered piece of wood. In the store he had a nice table to himself, covered in a velvety cloth embroidered with moons and tiny trees. But he didn't need something so fancy for his room; the only people he gave readings to in the confines of his home were his friends.

"Have you talked to Sakuraba?" Riku asked. It would be easier to pass the time before the first card announced itself if they made small talk. And with any luck, Riku hoped, Sakuraba _had_ been able to shed some light on the strange events of the day.

"Yeah," Monta replied easily, cracking his back with a deep stretch. Mamori grimaced at the sound and he flushed slightly, embarrassed. "I told him about the vision. He wouldn't tell me anything, though."

"But he knew something?" Mamori said, leaning forward. Monta's face contorted briefly as Sena felt his heart jump to his throat.

Sakuraba was a very good spirit guide, from what Monta had told them. A sort of golden retriever-type of creature, whose home was a large castle with hidden staircases and rooms containing memory upon memory from everyone in the world. The canine knew all sorts of seemingly trivial information, but Sakuraba had developed, over the years, a tendency to show Monta the future. At first it had been clear that Sakuraba was only showing him tidbits and explaining how to understand what was being shown.

"The future is never certain," Sakuraba had said. "It won't just show itself. It uses symbols. Always symbols."

Of course, any magical child knew that from the day they were born. The subconscious worked in symbols and hidden meanings. The Younger Self or Child Self, it was called. The Younger Self couldn't convey with words, opting instead to use signs that the consciousness would understand. The whole human race shared a collective symbolic code, but individual codes had to be translated or any bridge between the Younger Self would crumble.

Sena felt a headache come on. Clearly he didn't understand his own mind's imagery, if the results of his attempted initiation were any indication.

"I think he knew something. He was acting like it, you know? But he gave me zero to work with." Monta shrugged. "Maybe Suzuna will have something new, huh?" Monta smiled at Sena consolingly, but the boy simply fidgeted and averted his eyes.

He had talked to Suzuna, shortly after finishing the discussion with the coven. The petite demon had only raised her finger at him and shook her head when he had started explaining (complaining, more like) that the coven was postponing his initiation until 'the matter' was resolved.

"Sena. I don't know what happened today, but they're right. Circles don't just unravel—" here, Sena's head had pounded, because he _knew_ that circles didn't just go and untangled themselves and he was almost getting sick of people telling him that, "—and I want to know who those men were."

"Don't you?"

Suzuna shrugged. "I know they're dangerous."

Which, Sena had thought in exasperation, was completely obvious.

"Ha! Found it!" Monta exclaimed, grabbing the card from the bottom of the deck and sliding it down, upright.

_The Hanged Man._

The group collectively sighed.

It was the most likely card to show up when Sena was given a reading. Life in general? The Hanged Man. Love life? The Hanged Man. Future goals? _Definitely_ The Hanged Man. Sena could hear Mamori now, giving him a long lecture on how he needed to stop being so selfless and do a little something for himself once in a while, how he needed to think about his own emotions and stop sacrificing so much for the contentment of other people.

Riku had learned long ago that pointing out to Mamori that she was one of these people was a bad idea.

"Well. You're still yourself, it seems," Monta said, grinning slightly.

Sena nodded.

Yes, he was still himself. Still sacrificing himself and his well-being, his emotions, his thoughts, his needs, for everyone else around him. It was natural for him.

Always sacrificing too much.

The Hanged Man, reminiscent of the god Odin. Sena remembered that story well. It had been told around Samhain, along with the other stories of death and sacrifice. Inanna, Kore, the goddesses who traveled to the underworld…but Odin was different.

Odin, the wise god of the Norse, hung on the Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. Hung, rejecting help and wounded, until the sacred knowledge of the runes came upon him and he swept them up, falling from the Tree and bursting with the new awareness.

But Sena was no god, no wise man, no poet or singer giving up sight or love for indescribable talent. Nor sacrificial king or prince, dying for the land and people.

He was nothing but a boy. Granted, a boy who spoke to trees and flowers and felt the surge of power at dawn, but still a boy. Not even an initiated witch.

Sena bit his lip, refusing to look at Riku. They had talked, repeatedly, about his victim complex, as Riku liked to call it.

"Alright…here, ah! We got it!"

With a plap, a second card fell next to the first.

_The Fool._

Not too bad, they thought collectively.

"Oh! Awesome!" Monta cried, eagerly slapping down the next card that had jumped at him.

_The Devil._

Sena gulped.

And then three pairs of startled, wide eyes fell on him. Because, honestly, the logic they had known flew out the window at that moment. Perhaps, if Monta had pestered Sakuraba more, they would have been better prepared for the following months. Maybe, if Sena had caught the mischievous glint in Suzuna's eyes, he would have understood the craziness soon to envelope him.

As it was, Sena could only hand his tea shakily to his boyfriend, knowing no amount of sedative could calm his racing heart.

•†•

The Hanged Man:

sacrifice, knowledge, (occasionally) karma, decisions

The Fool:

_ crossroads, indecision, faith, intuition, the illogical. The beginning of an adventure_

_The Devil:_

_ overindulgence, willful bondage, addiction, passion_

•†•

Sena flopped unceremoniously onto the familiar bed, his eyes searching the ceiling. Glitter winked at him, plastic stars glowing in the dark. He remembered throwing the stars up, the balls of glitter that had exploded and fallen in waves back down onto them as Riku and he had laid on the floor, laughing. It had been the first time he'd gotten high. Hours later they had crawled into bed and passed out, Sena able to focus only on their breathing which had seemed so in sync it was almost frightening. But nothing could frighten him when he was high, he'd learned. Probably because his reactions were so slow.

"Do you want some food? I can order pizza," Riku said, leaning against the doorframe with a towel draped over his hair. Sena blushed lightly, his hair still dripping onto the towel wrapped around his shoulders. They'd done this a thousand times: going to each other's house, showering, cooking and cleaning, talking…it was only recently that they started to do other things. More adult things, Sena supposed. Distractedly, he reached up with the towel and rubbed his ear. Thank goodness he had brought a spare change of clothes with him; the one time he hadn't, Riku insisted Sena just stay naked. It was mortifying.

"S-sure. I'm a little hungry," he said, gulping.

"Do you want to… I mean, we have a few brownies in the freezer," Riku offered, shuffling his feet. Sena blinked at him and didn't quite comprehend what he meant. Until, of course, he remembered the last time they had gotten high and were so stoned they just sat together, passing their energy back and forth like they were electrical circuits. Though Sena wouldn't normally say so, it was pretty awesome.

But…his eyes went to Riku's altar, lined up against the north wall. He was lazy, like Sena, so there was still incense ash spread about the top of the cabinet and candle wax dripped along the sides. But Sena couldn't fault him too much, especially considering the burning seven day candle situated between a howling wolf and a great hawk sculpture. A glass teardrop sat in the center of the altar. Water, their element. The feeling, loving, sensitive, emotional energy that could both bend and erode, forceful and gentle. Sena rubbed my eyes harshly. Sometimes it seemed all the strength went to Riku and Sena got all the weakness, all the hesitancy and pliability of water.

_I really shouldn't get high after everything that happened. Especially not when mom told me to stay in my body,_ he thought.

"Alright," I replied.

"Cool. I'll put one in the microwave. We'll split it, alright?" Riku called as he swept down the steps. Sena swung his feet for a few moments, just staring at the space he had been.

Riku.

Sena slid off the bed and shuffled around his bag, trying to find the extra t-shirt. His mind wasn't really focused on the actions though, and he was drifting off into a dangerous space. He bit his lip harshly, trying to bring a bit of focus back to his conscious. He'd be spacing out enough when the weed started affecting him, so he had to do his best to concentrate on reality. He needed to focus on the rough texture of his clothes, their bland color, their scent that was so similar to him he couldn't really pick it up… But as he slipped the shirt over his head he just sighed and fell back onto the bed. It was pointless. There was too much commotion in his head. Too many memories and thoughts and frustrations…

Riku.

He pressed the heel of his palms into his eyes and sigh. Riku was initiated. He was connected with the whole coven, could likely still feel their energy tugging at him… Sena exhaled softly. It probably hurt Riku, to be away from the rest of them. Monta said it felt like a great harsh longing in your chest, a sort of throb, right after you're initiated.

It was so selfish of Sena to need Riku right now, but he couldn't help it. Tears pricked his eyes and a rare curse passed his lips. If only those weird, cocky, obnoxious men had shown up a bit later…then he would have really been connected to Riku. Connected to everyone. _A part of something_.

A sigh escaped him. He couldn't deny it, not in his heart. He and Riku were drifting apart, slowly. Almost imperceptibly. But Sena could feel it; of course, he was _always_ the sensitive one. He knew he loved Riku, more than a friend, and he knew beyond doubt that Riku loved him. When Riku had gone to Europe he had been lonely, and school had been horrible. He hated to admit it, but the bullying had gotten worse when Riku had been gone. Mamori thought she was helping by chasing off the bullies…but, goddess, it only made everything worse. Sena sat up on the bed, shaking his head and opening his eyes to clear the memories away.

Except he wasn't in Riku's room anymore.

The first thought that came into his head, of course, was, _I don't have visions. That's Monta's thing._

Yet here he was, in a place that was not the place he had been, a place that was as much out of time as any magic circle. The world between worlds, a place that was not a place. Bookshelves lined the walls, the shelves themselves a part of the structure, cluttered with huge tomes and tiny pamphlets. He could barely make out a kitchen to the left of him, and further beyond that an expansive garden that seemed to stretch for eternity. Paintings, and somehow Sena knew simultaneously and seemingly ages later they were stolen and authentic, decorated huge walls painted a deep red. Dragons, demons, and fierce birds that held dying humans in their beaks…all gruesome, and the images made Sena shudder. A coffee table was littered with more open books, scraps of paper, and a strangely ominous black leather scrapbook. The room smelled of vanilla smoke, and it made Sena at once enticed and choked with revulsion.

"Sena?"

With a great feeling of being slapped on the back with the wide edge of a knife, Sena returned to Riku, and to the present.

"Sorry…I was spacing out."

"Oh. I thought you were looking at the new painting mom got me," Riku commented, setting the small plate with the innocent brownie onto his desk.

Sena's eyes instantly flew to the large round painting hanging on the wall.

As if seeing through a far-forgotten dream, a butterfly extended huge, sea green silver wings to the edge of the canvas. Its thorax was a deep forest green and its antennae bled off into a sky the color just before sunset. It was like dreaming in water, the world becoming all soft colors melding into each other and shimmering when the light hit it. And at the bottom were, yes, waves the color of wine, seemingly frozen in a storm.

"Your mom got that?" Sena breathed.

"Yeah. For…well," Riku trailed off, rubbing his neck. Sena tensed but blew out his breath again. He couldn't hold any resentment, any grudge, any hate in his body. Had to let it flow out like water, like the waves in the painting…

Riku's arms came to rest along his shoulders, draping across his chest and brushing back and forth. Riku was taller, Sena noticed, like always. He leaned back into his boyfriend, his fingers entwining with the ones lying against his chest.

"…I got some milk," Riku said softly, letting his chin fall on Sena's shoulder. "To wash the taste down."

"…Okay."

Tugging him by the hand, Riku pulled him to the desk and offered the plate, the glasses of milk sitting comfortingly nearby. Pot gave food a strange taste, and while Riku didn't seem to mind it made Sena gag every time he ate it. He'd never smoked before; food gave a stronger high, a more physical high.

Sena delicately held his half of the brownie in his hands, watching idly as Riku swallowed his bite down efficiently. Would he still do this if pot were illegal, like it had been? Sena couldn't remember the time when pot had been an illegal, _dangerous_ drug. Most drugs were legal now, sold and taxed. Would he still be eating this kind of baked food if it were illegal, frowned on by common society? Then again, he'd grown up surrounded by adults that advocated its use; as long as you didn't do anything stupid like drive when you were high.

He ate it in small bites, washing each piece down with milk immediately and sticking his tongue out dramatically after the entire half was down. Riku chuckled.

"It's not that bad."

"It tastes disgusting," Sena groaned, collapsing onto the bed again before leaping back up. "Oh! We need to order the pizza!"

"I did when I was downstairs. They'll be here in twenty minutes."

Sena bit his lip, hard. "Will we still be…you know?"

"You might not," Riku teased, kicking Sena's foot softly. "You'll probably start feeling the effects by then. Me? I'll be able to handle it."

Sena smiled and flopped back down on the comforter, Riku's taunt barely fazing him. It was true; pot affected him fast. He hadn't gotten used to the effects yet, even though he'd gotten high a few times before. He didn't want to become too attached to the drug, after all, and no matter how nice…calming…_wonderful_…being high was he really didn't want to live life in a perpetual dream.

"Whadya wanna do 'til then?" Riku asked, falling down next to Sena, causing the springs under the bed to groan in protest, and smiling at the brunette. Sena smiled in return, letting his eyes go to the ceiling again. So much glitter… Like little galaxies, all collected above him. If he let his eyes go a little fuzzy, let his focus go to the margins of vision…he could see the stars getting brighter, sparkling, streaks of wishing stars streaking against the ceiling. And if he looked at Riku—he tilted his head and smiled wider at his boyfriend—there were stars littered everywhere around the blonde, moving in a great symphony and zinging off into the air. Great vines of green light curled around the other boy's form, and Sena blinked and refocused his eyes.

It was times like this he loved being a Witch.

A whole different world unknown to regular people was open to him. Sena could see the real beauty Riku had, which had been crafted from spells and shields as well as his natural astral form. He often wondered what he looked like, astral and magical wise, but he'd never tried to look, much less asked Riku. He knew Riku had the Sight as well, everyone in the coven did, but whenever he felt courageous enough to brave a question about what he himself resembled, what strange, wonderful things hovered around him, a great chill came over him and froze his lips shut. It was enough of a sign for him to leave the subject alone.

A brief shimmer of deep red caught Sena's eyes and he focused his Sight on it, tilting his head to get a better image.

It was a thread, as thick as a piano string. No, many different threads, all branching off into the distance and pulsing, some getting brighter and others dimming into the background. There were… Sena bit his lip and looked away. They were the connections Riku now had to the rest of the coven. The bonds looked so raw… Sena shivered.

"Are you okay?" Riku's voice lilted, worry just biting at the edges of the words.

Sena shut his eyes, seemingly an eternity later shaking his head.

"…Is it about earlier today?" Now, the voice was distant, over an ocean, on the other side of the Pacific…but Sena could still hear him, and that was all that mattered.

"…Yeah…I guess…"

"Those men…"

"No, I just…" Sena's eyes snapped open and he clamped down, his throat closing around the words and almost choking him. No. He couldn't explain to Riku the loneliness that was building around them. What if Riku hadn't been feeling it? He couldn't even explain his feelings to himself… Riku would just think it was weird. Sena just felt…just felt as if a huge chasm had opened between the two of them, and no matter how badly they wanted to hold onto each other's hands there was a great force tearing each other apart, pulling Riku further away just as it dragged Sena down, down, down into the great deep hole.

_Riku loves me…Riku loves me…_became the mantra in his head that he grasped at with weak fingers.

"What?" Riku prodded, his voice—over the ocean, over the Pacific, past Japan, past China, somewhere in Iraq or Iran now—offering Sena the possibility to back out and keep everything hidden in himself.

He snatched the possibility like a safe shore at the end of a rapid and resurfaced, his mind gasping with the effort of returning to the Riku that was next to him, no longer dwelling on the Riku that was fading from his inner sight.

"…It was just a little…scary," he mumbled, and Riku promptly wrapped his arms around the younger boy, cradling the tremulous secrets and worries bottled inside Sena, letting them fester like a bad wound until they would come to, naturally, bleed out and expel everything that Sena's body, his mind, his very soul deemed unsuited.

Even the people who Sena pleaded with the gods to retain.

•†•

The first time Hiruma raised a circle, he had been able to feel it immediately. There was no imagining or wishing or _trying_ to direct the energy. It molded under his hands and bent and formed in such a manner that it pressed against his skin and made the whole area hot. It may not have been a visible circle, but the power was there, beating against his fingertips.

After that day, Hiruma could be found with an occult book on hand. That, or his Book of Shadows as he furiously scribbled away in it.

•†•

Dreaming.

The thought whisked by Sena like a hummingbird. He really was dreaming, not just stuck in a pot-haze where the world moved to fast for him to keep track of it, when his eyesight started going out and he had trouble remembering what came next. No, this was a dream, and the certainty let him know the truth of that statement.

The huge dragon staring at him with colorless eyes helped with the formation of that conclusion as well. Because, even when he was high and using his Sight, he had never seen such a creature.

It was Asian, that much he knew, with fur like scales and antlers like an elks, but broken and trashed and blackened by fire. It seemed to curl up in and around itself, a great mess of coils and gargantuan limbs. One moment it was silver, the next a sharp purple shone off the dragon, and still the color changed like light reflecting off an opal. But then the great beast was opening its mouth, revealing an endless cavern and sharp fangs covered in strange red grime.

And it was as the dragon began to hiss that Sena noticed the chains, shackles, rusted but still holding tight, that bound the dragon…to itself? Sena leaned closer. Yes, they were definitely connected to each of the dragon's limbs, as if it were trapped to itself and in itself. But, no, Sena thought, his brow furrowing. There were two other chains, extending to where he was standing…

"Go ahead, well. Put it on," came a sneering voice, right by his ear. He knew, just as in all dreams where the impossible is know, that one of the dragon's chains went to the man behind him. Dangerous chains, no matter how frail they looked. If he latched it to his arm, it would never let go.

Lying on the ground, the endless strange pale ground that faded into a horizon of noontime sky, was the shackle. No letters, no numbers, just a heavy metal trap that would keep him tied to the beast forever.

"You don't have to, of course," the voice continued.

Sena, his hand previously extended, paused.

"It'll just happen on its own anyway," the man snickered, and before Sena could leap back or protest or scream, the shackle was around his neck and choking him and making him fall to the ground and gasp. And every breath the dragon hissed in he could feel, every heartbeat, every twitch of muscle…but he felt like he was dying, strangled, being dragged down and down into that damn chasm that was separating him from everything he had ever know.

Until the shackle fell away and his body jerked to a halt mid-fall and he was staring up, the same blood red pulsing threads that he had seen on Riku extending up, up, up—not into the light—but to the dragon. Two threads…two thin threads he couldn't snap if he twisted them around the whole world.

Panging like a gong, the threads snaps of their own accord, severing and releasing him until he fell and fell and fell back the dark and the Underworld and into nothing.

* * *

_It'd be great if you guys can point out any spelling/grammar issues because this chapter is just...like, Erin can't deal with it right now. He'll fix everything later. Reviews are always appreciated!_

_Jesus Christ man...  
_


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